(C) Daily Kos
This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered.
. . . . . . . . . .
Akron: A tale of two murders [1]
['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags']
Date: 2022-07-01
On June 2nd, 17-year-old Ethan Liming (above right) was murdered on a basketball court at Lebron James’ I Promise School, following a confrontation with kids shooting paintball guns. Three men, from 19 to 21 years old, all black, have been charged.
The pro-white group National Justice Party held a small protest march in Akron calling for hate crime charges against the three, although police had already stated the murder was not racially-motivated. Some marchers wore face coverings, perhaps to conceal their identity.
This past Monday, Jayland Walker (above left), 25, a delivery driver for DoorDash — with one speeding ticket representing his entire criminal record -- was pulled over during a traffic stop in north Akron. A high-speed pursuit followed during which police claim a shot was fired from his vehicle; they later claim to have found a gun and spent round in the car. After stopping the car, Jayland ran into a parking lot, followed by eight police — seven white, one black. During the chase, in which Jayland was unarmed, police fired over 90 rounds, hitting him 60 times. When the coroner arrived, his dead body was on its back. His dead body was also in handcuffs. The medical examiner’s office has ruled his death a murder.
Jayland’s family and friends also held a protest, calling for justice. Akron’s mayor, anticipating hot weather and a long holiday weekend with tensions running high, has canceled a large downtown food and music festival.
“I completely understand that some residents and guests will be disappointed by the decision to cancel the festival this holiday weekend,” Mayor Horrigan said in a statement Thursday. “Independence Day is meant to be a celebration and a time of gathering with friends and family. Unfortunately, I feel strongly that this is not the time for a city-led celebration.”
He further promised all bodycam footage will be released no later than Sunday. (Akron has no dashcam equipment in their cruisers.)
In sports, sometimes a referee will realize he’s made a bad foul call and then do a “make-up call” to right the error. Was Jayland’s murder a “make-up call” for the brutal beating death of the white teenager? Were or are any of the National Justice Party demonstators police officers?
People will ask: If he had done nothing wrong, why did he speed off? Why did he run from the police? THIS is why. Because white folk typically get a traffic ticket, and black folk sometimes get a toe tag. And a white supremacist may be the one with the badge.
[END]
---
[1] Url:
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2022/7/1/2107830/-Akron-A-tale-of-two-murders
Published and (C) by Daily Kos
Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified.
via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds:
gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/
